In the creative world, with the technology available in a modern studio, even a small setup in the corner of a bedroom makes it relatively easy to make music. (Notice I didn’t say good music!) But when it comes to being a band in the traditional sense, of course, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as the saying goes – the pudding here being the band in question, the eating being the live show. So for Hazel Gaze, stripping their songs back and reworking them to include a world-class string section, not to mention the great and good of rock ‘n’ roll, then recording it live, in the moment, as it happens, is all the proof you need that here we have a band that understands what making music is all about.
Taken from their Strung Out (Live & Unplugged at the Brooklyn Conservatory) album, also dropping today, ‘Do As You Please’ has it all. Even stripped back, the band’s sassy brand of rock ‘n’ soul shines through in all its groovy glory, but it quickly grows into so much more – piano’s pump, guitars riff around, brass stabs, a fiddle wanders through, lush harmonies at lush textures, and strings swoon and soar – a performance and a half for sure.
Not only is ‘Do As You Please’ a great song, a great sound and a great delivery, but it gets to the heart of what making music is all about. Music shouldn’t stay in lanes; bands aren’t obliged to play by generic rules, and a song’s story, once written and committed to record, doesn’t end there. ‘Do As You Please,’ in this retelling, is where many worlds collide. In these four minutes, you can hear the echo of everything from the power of New York bar bands to classical finesse, foot-on-the-monitor rock ‘n’ roll to jobbing orchestra pits, low-slung groove to high art, all dancing together in perfect harmony.
You want to know what music is all about? Spin this album and this single for a few hours…it’s the best cultural and creative lesson you will ever have.
